Zach Ertz

All posts tagged Zach Ertz

SAM BRADFORD WON’T BE BACK

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/01/29
Posted in: Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 12 Comments

Warning__300_by_SeiyruRenaih

AFTER A sub .500 year, the Eagles fired the head coach, and brought in a new one who favors the West Coast Offense. This was after a lackluster season by a Heisman Trophy winning QB who’d peaked in college.

I’m not talking about 2015, I’m talking about 1998. The fired Head Coach was Ray Rhodes, the new coach was Andy Reid and the QB was Ty Detmer. Owner Jeff Lurie didn’t call it a rebuild, but he allowed Reid to come in and scrap everything about the Rhodes era. What shortsighted fans don’t get is that we’ve been here before.

This time around it’s Doug Pederson hired on the heels of a toxic Chip Kelly era. As poisoned as that locker room became, do you really think for an instant that Lurie wants Pederson to do anything short of a total rebuild? And what bigger change could the Eagles make than the very face of the franchise?

You used to be able to drive out I-95 near the Broad Street exit, turn your head and SEE our franchise emblazoned on the side of the stadium. The number of Donovan McNabb Eagles jerseys in circulation probably still outnumbers the combined number of Nick Foles and Sam Bradford Eagles jerseys. The Eagles haven’t had such a guy since 2009. And don’t you dare think for an instant that those things are lost on Lurie.

Fixing the culture and the bottom line are easier to do with a new trigger man running the Offense. It also fits hand-in-glove with inking players like TE Zach Ertz and OT Lane Johnson to new deals. (Also the numbers on Johnson’s deal hint strongly at a coming move from RT to LT, which I mentioned about a week ago.)

In case you’re missing it, the theme for this offseason will be stability. And since you can’t get stability with your fingers crossed over a brittle, underachiever with poor leadership skills… Unless something truly disturbing happens, expect the Eagles to move on from Bradford relatively soon.

I DIDN’T RECOGNIZE THE EAGLES

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/12/08
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , , . 5 Comments

headshot

Seattle 24 – EAGLES 14

 

NOTHING I saw yesterday was familiar. Beyond the score and the results and the yards, I didn’t see the EAGLES out there yesterday. Particularly on Offense. Defensively, however I definitely saw my team. But let me talk about the Offense first.

It would be one thing to see us failing at what we’re good at, but we didn’t even seem to be trying. The biggest thing was the pace. When have you seen us look that slow under Chip Kelly? Not even the Green Bay game featured that snail’s pace. Don’t get me wrong, by normal NFL standards it was fine, but this Offense isn’t run by normal NFL standards; and last night it seemed like it took forever between plays. Worse still, there seemed to be no move to correct it after the half.

There didn’t seem to be a concerted effort to push the ball down the field either. QB Mark Sanchez (10/20 – 50% – 96 – 2 – 1) averaged fewer than 10 yards per completion, with his longest completion being a 35 yard catch and run touchdown by TE Zach Ertz (2 – 39 – 19.5 – 1). Unstack that and aside from that one completion, Sanchez was 9 for 19 (47%), while only throwing for 64 yards, with a completion average of 7.1 yards per. Not yards per pass mind you, but yards per completion.

Add to that all the east-west run plays we ran. RB LeSean McCoy (17 – 50 – 2.9 – 0) saw a decent number of carries as he quietly became the EAGLES all-time leading rusher. But even without his costly third quarter fumble, it was hardly an effective day by he or the Offensive Line.

Defensively we were who we are. We did a pretty decent job of handling RB Marshawn Lynch, but as is always the case, when we face a playoff caliber QB, everything wrong with our basic defensive concept gets lit up like Times Square. Seattle did nothing jaw dropping out there yesterday, but by playing common sense offense and not getting flustered when they made a mistake, they were able to shoulder past us.

I’ve said before that our problem on Defense is the guy who runs it. Until we replace him, we’ll be stuck with concepts that don’t work against playoff caliber teams. I said in the first article on this website, that as long as we stick with Bill Davis at Defensive Coordinator, we won’t be able to win a Super Bowl. Granted, maybe we’ll hit the playoffs, get hot and he’ll prove me wrong. However at the rate we’ve been going versus playoff caliber teams, both this season and last, it seems so far that I’m right on the money.

But again, I’m really kind of stunned by what I saw out there from our Offense yesterday.

ONE OF THESE TE’s WON’T BE HERE IN 2015

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/05/23
Posted in: Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment
Image courtesy of profootballspot.com

Image courtesy of profootballspot.com

MANY fans are hoping for Zach Ertz to unseat Brent Celek as the starter at TE this year. Considering that the Eagles aren’t quite as reliant on their TE’S to block in the run game as most teams, I suppose it could happen, but could ain’t should.

For my money I think Celek is the more complete TE. Not just because he’s more experienced, but because he’s a more natural blocker. Plus with the ball in his hands Celek will run a bitch over. You have to consider whether, when and how to tackle that guy.

Ertz has more fluidity, and I don’t just think it’s because he’s younger. I think it’s because if he was two tenths faster and 20 pounds lighter he’d be a WR. He moves better, he just doesn’t strike me as a natural TE.

Then again this system doesn’t really call for one does it? So Ertz’s blocking isn’t really a liability, and Celek’s blocking is merely a plus. Basically they’ll just provide Chip Kelly with options. Sounds good right? Now for a shot of cold hard reality and math.

The guy who I think is fucked is James Casey. He’s due 4 million next year; and with Celek almost making 5, and Ertz making 1.5, you know the Eagles aren’t going to want to hold onto all three next year. So I’m guessing Ertz will get every chance to step-up, and since Celek is a fan favorite, I think 2014 is Casey’s farewell tour in Philly.